Limit Arlington Cemetery Burial To Most Deserving Americans Only

February 22, 1998

Arlington National Cemetery is hallowed ground. It had its origins in the Civil War, when Union soldiers appropriated the estate of Confederate General Robert E. Lee and used it as the final resting place for many of their dead.

It holds the remains of some of the nation's bravest Americans, including soldiers whose names are known only to God.

To be buried in Arlington is a great honor, and Americans alive today have an obligation to protect that honor by making certain burial there doesn't become a right handed out to the highest bidder.

A measure is moving rapidly through the House of Representatives that would assure burial in Arlington would be reserved only for the most deserving Americans.

The proposed legislation was precipitated by a scandal last year, in which M. Larry Lawrence, U.S. ambassador to Switzerland, was interred at the cemetery.

Lawrence, who died at his post, was granted a waiver by the administration. His family had his body removed after facts surfaced indicating that he lied about being wounded while serving on a merchant vessel during World War II.

Speculation was rampant at the time that the Clinton administration was granting waivers to big campaign contributors, of which Lawrence was one. The General Accounting Office looked into whether burial plots were being exchanged for political donations, and found they were not.

The GAO assurance hasn't satisfied skeptical members of Congress or the public. Under a measure working its way through the House, top federal officials, save for the president who is commander in chief, would not automatically qualify for burial if they have honorable military records.

The 70,000 remaining spaces would be reserved instead for the most deserving, including those who die on active duty, former prisoners of war and highly decorated individuals.

"Being well-connected will no longer be an acceptable criterion for burial consideration," said House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Bob Stump, R-Ariz.

A strict measure warrants swift passage by both houses of Congress, and the signature of the president.